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Shiloh's dirty work shouldn't be overlooked
Chad Hartley The student section stood on the court and chanted as Nevada celebrated the WAC Tournament championship Saturday night.
"One more year. One more year."
Unfortunately, nobody invited Kyle Shiloh to the postgame interview room so it's not clear if the junior intends on staying for another season.
OK, Shiloh isn't going anywhere next year, and that's a great thing for Nevada.
When a team has a player the caliber of Nick Fazekas, who likely will go the NBA after this season, and scorer like Marcelus Kemp, it's easy to overlook a guy like Shiloh.
But you shouldn't because Shiloh played as big a part in Nevada's win Saturday night as anyone else.
Sure, the stat line isn't pretty. He was just 1-of-5 from the field and 3-of-6 from the free throw line for six points.
But don't look as his line. Take a look at the line for Jaycee Carroll, the Utah State guard who was a second-team All-WAC pick this year.
The sharp-shooting guard was 2-of-10 from the field, 0-for-4 from 3-point range and had just seven points. And one of his buckets came when Shiloh slipped, giving Carroll an open look.
In 28 of Utah State's games this year, Carroll averaged 16.7 points per game. In the other three games, all against Nevada, Carroll scored fewer than nine points per game, was a combined 4-of-19 from long range and went to the free-throw line just twice.
He was a non-factor in those three games, two of which were Nevada wins.
Credit Shiloh for that. He was Carroll's shadow in all of those games. When Carroll went somewhere, Shiloh was on his back.
"Shiloh is someone that really is going to play you the right way," Fazekas said. "He is going to grind on the screens. He doesn't make very many mistakes. He is a tough dude. He really gets down and grinds it out and gets the job done, night-in and night-out."
And for his efforts, Shiloh received absolutely nothing in the postseason awards. Mo Charlo got named to the WAC's all-defensive team and Shiloh got named by coach Mark Fox after that as a glaring omission from the team.
Nevada doesn't win Saturday's game without Shiloh or Lyndale Burleson, who had the assignment on Carroll when Shiloh was on the bench. The freshman Burleson looked like a Shiloh-in-training Saturday night.
The way those two defended Carroll, it was shocking that they didn't follow him into the Utah State locker room after the game.
The Aggies are the best 3-point shooting team in the conference, hitting nearly 42 percent on the season. Nevada plays the best defense beyond the arc, limiting opponents to just 30 percent.
Guess what? Defense wins.
Utah State hit just 4-of-19 in the title game. When Carroll took a potential game-winning jumper in the waning seconds of regulation, that was Shiloh's arm flying in front of the sophomore's face.
"We're a good defensive team," Fox said. "I trust my team."
Shiloh usually draws the assignment of checking a foe's best guard. He usually turns in a solid effort.
And he usually goes overlooked until he has breakout performance on offense, like he did in a few games back in Janaury.
That's a shame. It's also a shame that the WAC coaches didn't put him on the all-defensive team.
Jaycee Carroll probably would.
Chad Hartley covers college football and baseball for the Reno Gazette-Journal, and can be reached at [email protected]. For more, read his WolfPackZone blog at http://www.rgj.com/blogs/wolfpackzone/
Chad Hartley The student section stood on the court and chanted as Nevada celebrated the WAC Tournament championship Saturday night.
"One more year. One more year."
Unfortunately, nobody invited Kyle Shiloh to the postgame interview room so it's not clear if the junior intends on staying for another season.
OK, Shiloh isn't going anywhere next year, and that's a great thing for Nevada.
When a team has a player the caliber of Nick Fazekas, who likely will go the NBA after this season, and scorer like Marcelus Kemp, it's easy to overlook a guy like Shiloh.
But you shouldn't because Shiloh played as big a part in Nevada's win Saturday night as anyone else.
Sure, the stat line isn't pretty. He was just 1-of-5 from the field and 3-of-6 from the free throw line for six points.
But don't look as his line. Take a look at the line for Jaycee Carroll, the Utah State guard who was a second-team All-WAC pick this year.
The sharp-shooting guard was 2-of-10 from the field, 0-for-4 from 3-point range and had just seven points. And one of his buckets came when Shiloh slipped, giving Carroll an open look.
In 28 of Utah State's games this year, Carroll averaged 16.7 points per game. In the other three games, all against Nevada, Carroll scored fewer than nine points per game, was a combined 4-of-19 from long range and went to the free-throw line just twice.
He was a non-factor in those three games, two of which were Nevada wins.
Credit Shiloh for that. He was Carroll's shadow in all of those games. When Carroll went somewhere, Shiloh was on his back.
"Shiloh is someone that really is going to play you the right way," Fazekas said. "He is going to grind on the screens. He doesn't make very many mistakes. He is a tough dude. He really gets down and grinds it out and gets the job done, night-in and night-out."
And for his efforts, Shiloh received absolutely nothing in the postseason awards. Mo Charlo got named to the WAC's all-defensive team and Shiloh got named by coach Mark Fox after that as a glaring omission from the team.
Nevada doesn't win Saturday's game without Shiloh or Lyndale Burleson, who had the assignment on Carroll when Shiloh was on the bench. The freshman Burleson looked like a Shiloh-in-training Saturday night.
The way those two defended Carroll, it was shocking that they didn't follow him into the Utah State locker room after the game.
The Aggies are the best 3-point shooting team in the conference, hitting nearly 42 percent on the season. Nevada plays the best defense beyond the arc, limiting opponents to just 30 percent.
Guess what? Defense wins.
Utah State hit just 4-of-19 in the title game. When Carroll took a potential game-winning jumper in the waning seconds of regulation, that was Shiloh's arm flying in front of the sophomore's face.
"We're a good defensive team," Fox said. "I trust my team."
Shiloh usually draws the assignment of checking a foe's best guard. He usually turns in a solid effort.
And he usually goes overlooked until he has breakout performance on offense, like he did in a few games back in Janaury.
That's a shame. It's also a shame that the WAC coaches didn't put him on the all-defensive team.
Jaycee Carroll probably would.
Chad Hartley covers college football and baseball for the Reno Gazette-Journal, and can be reached at [email protected]. For more, read his WolfPackZone blog at http://www.rgj.com/blogs/wolfpackzone/